When my friend, Valerie, heard that we would be having a wedding, she volunteered to do the flowers! She had supported herself through college as a certified flower assembler. She is very creative and dependable and this was a great relief to us all.
We had met with the flower person at Costco who recommended that instead of ordering flowers, we just come in on the morning when she received her shipment and buy what we liked. In this way, we wouldn't limit ourselves but would have access to whatever was available.This worked out beautifully. On that day, the bride was in school, so Cindi and I met there when the doors opened. We bought the most gorgeous fall garden bouquets, large red roses, tea roses and extra greenery.
The day before the wedding, Miss Valerie brought her homeschooled daughters with her and proceeded to teach them how to arrange bouquets. They had had some practice doing this before and were quite good at it. We were all impressed with the sunflowers, burgundy mums, rubria and even the wildflower fillers that came in the bunches of flowers. They were extremely well priced because we bought them right off the shelves.
Valerie, after working for three hours arranging each bouquet, placed them all in vases of water and took them to her house for the finishing touches. She picked up some pew brackets and made bows for them and created boutonnieres for the guys and corsages for the mothers. She bought ribbon that matched better than our Dollar Store selection and the next day, delivered them all to the church and distributed them. Then she helped everyone to get lined up on time! I enjoyed her company at the reception, too! All this she did with her signature CHEERFUL patience and sweetness with us and her own children. We appreciate so much this tremendous gift of self. God willing, I plan to help her when her daughters get married !
